Patong’s peril: Road collapse has drivers on edge in Phuket

[snoop1130]

 

A patch of road shoulder collapsed on the route over Patong Hill leading into Phuket’s bustling tourist hub, Patong, a situation that has authorities urging drivers to exercise caution. The subsidence occurred yesterday, and repair works are still ongoing on the compromised section of the route.

 

Emergency repairs were undertaken on the cracked road surface yesterday. The Phuket Highways Office, in light of this development, issued a late warning notice. Interestingly, these cracks were spotted at the 1+350-kilometre mark, directly opposite the Wyndham Sea Pearl Resort Phuket, resulting from the earth beneath the road giving way, said the Highways Office.

 

“We would like to announce this for everyone to know and apologise for the inconvenience.”

 

The Highways Office further added a note of caution, urging people to be careful.

 

Surprisingly, no formal reports on the ongoing repair works have been released by Patong Municipality, Kathu Municipality, or the Phuket Highways Office. There is also no indication of when the repairs might be completed, reported The Phuket News.

 

By Mitch Connor

Caption: Picture courtesy of Chalermpong Saengdee

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2023-11-30

 

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[bkk6060]

What happened to the tunnel they were going to punch through the mountain?  Probably same people promising the high speed trains.

[NorthernRyland]

Authorities will wait until a road collapses before they do anything. I can think of areas where the road is 100% going to collapse on the corner but nothing is being done. Ditto for trees on slopes which are going to collapse on the road and take down power lines. It would take months to cut them all back but that's still better than waiting until they come down and kill a driver or at the very least take the power lines down.

[DFPhuket]

I actually noticed an issue with that section of the road where it appeared to be cracked and sinking on Monday so I avoided driving to close to the edge. It appears that it took four days before the authorities took notice.  

[PETERTHEEATER]

If requested, I'm sure the Mayor of Pattaya would send some of his experts down to Phuket to assess the situation and explain how to keep repairs forever ongoing.

[brianthainess]

That needs more than just patching up, it needs shoring up with tons of concrete, as is often needed on KC roads. 

[xylophone]

8 hours ago, DFPhuket said:

I actually noticed an issue with that section of the road where it appeared to be cracked and sinking on Monday so I avoided driving to close to the edge. It appears that it took four days before the authorities took notice.  

Going down the hill towards Patong, about 50 m past this, there is also another section of the road which is sinking because of subsidence or a drainage pipe has collapsed under it, and this has been visible for at least four or five months and has slowly gotten worse – – – – and today I noticed that this quite large dip/subsidence in the side of the road has been "repaired" by some tarmac being poured in it; probably left over from the roadworks as mentioned in this thread.

 

Whatever the case, this "repair" must have been done by a one legged, one armed blind man, such is the quality of it.

[natway09]

The lack of longterm planning & infrastructure spending on the right things is epitomized here in that the tunnel has not been completed years ago, it really is a no brainer but the only 2 reasons I can logically think of why not built is that

they do not have the knowledge to do so or if a suitable contractor who can has not been found that will play the illegal 

"commission" game